Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Our View: Whose land is it anyway?

This newspaper has not taken a position on fracking. We are aware that
new sources of natural gas have resulted from the process. That has
helped our nation in pursuit of the goal of energy independence. It has
also helped keep downward pressure on the cost of energy, and has had a
positive effect on air pollution because natural gas burns cleaner than
coal. But we have also listened to the fears raised by concerned
residents. In our opinion, those concerns have not been adequately
addressed.

But having the meeting 11 months after the initial
protests leads us to think the government simply wanted the issue to go
away. The time and place for the meeting appears to be planned in the
hope that people will stay away.

The government needs to remember
that federal lands belong to the people — not just to the politicians
and agencies that manage them.

You've got to be kidding. They are referred to as Forest Service lands, BLM lands, Park Service lands, etc. and not People lands for a good reason. The only real say people have over these lands is through the politicians they elect and the resulting appointments.

The people have a right to know how their land is used, and to express their opinions about how it is used.

If it was "their land" they would already know how it was used and they would be making decisions on its use, not just offering their "opinions."